I bought a 3 ghost shrimp to keep w/ my bettas at work. I added 2 to the lone betta and 1 to the betta w/ small fish friends. The next morning 2 of the shrimp were dead and the next day (today) the remaining shrimp was dead. From the reading I did, they are supposed to like low temps (upper 60s, low 70s) and they are supposed to be scavengers as well as algae eaters. I tossed a crumb of algae wafer in each tank and never saw any shrimp go near it. I realize these guys are meant to be food for larger fish, so they probably don't have an incredible life expectancy, but 2 days?! Is there something special I should know about them? Or did I just get a bum batch of shrimp? I'm thinking of trying the shrimp from a different lfs to give them a shot. They're only 5/$1.25, so if only 2 make, I won't be too heart-broken.
Ghost shrimp dying...
- Thread starter JenNewbie
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How did you add them? Also have you ever used any meds in your tank? Some meds contain copper salts and these are often deadly to inverts like snails and shrimp. In fact those snail be gone potions they sell are pretty much a copper solution.
Or you could have gotten bad shrimp.
Or you could have gotten bad shrimp.
RogerMcAllen
Aquarium Advice Addict
Look to the bettas. I put some shrimp in with some female bettas, the substrate was made of large pondstone so there were caves for the shrimp. One would wedge down into the cave while the other would attack the shrimp as it came out the other side. I think I have heard somewhere else about a betta liking to kill ghost shrimp, but I can't remember where.
tastybrains
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Bettas and gouramis both sometimes kill ghost shrimp. It's totally dependent on the individual fish. I don't know why they do it since they can't really fit the shrimp into their mouths as food. Perhaps it's just entertainment for them. 
I put a couple shrimp in with my girlies once ... they were in multiple pieces by the time they reached the bottom, having been fought over and ripped apart from both ends.
I put a couple shrimp in with my girlies once ... they were in multiple pieces by the time they reached the bottom, having been fought over and ripped apart from both ends.
cindywindy
Aquarium Advice Freak
In nature, ghost shrimp are just one step above plankton on the food chain. They are nature's "intended" food source for fish and fish do see them as such and in most cases, medium-to-large sized fish will view them as very tasty treats.
If you couple that with the fact that they are mass-bred in giant tanks and live in unclean and overcrowded living conditions with poor water quality until they reach your tanks, you have the recipe for a very short life span. Being a cichlid-keeper myself, 40-50 of them added once a week don't normally last longer than 5-10 minutes in my tank ... both because of the fact they are not hardy enough to endure subtle changes in their environment, and because my fish consider them a delicacy.
For whatever the reason, I'm sorry you lost your shrimp, Jen.
If you couple that with the fact that they are mass-bred in giant tanks and live in unclean and overcrowded living conditions with poor water quality until they reach your tanks, you have the recipe for a very short life span. Being a cichlid-keeper myself, 40-50 of them added once a week don't normally last longer than 5-10 minutes in my tank ... both because of the fact they are not hardy enough to endure subtle changes in their environment, and because my fish consider them a delicacy.
For whatever the reason, I'm sorry you lost your shrimp, Jen.
